?It?s been a long, long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.? ? Sam Cooke.

A majority of life?s greatest accomplishments and events begin in the most minuscule forms. As human beings our time on this planet starts in the smallest of ways, as a twinkle in the eyes of our parents. Even a beautiful pearl first has to endure life as an unidentified grain of sand.

Last April I planted the tiniest of seeds, but less than a year later some wonderful flowers have begun to bloom thanks to a little help from some newfound friends.

For those of you who may not have read either of the first two installments in my ?NBA for MS? series (Part I and Part II) my goal has been a rather simple one ? increase awareness and funding for multiple sclerosis research using the connections I?ve accumulated in my three years here at RealGM.

My ultimate goal was, and still is, to attend an ?MS Awareness Night? at any one of the league?s arenas. I always envisioned a public service announcement blaring over a jumbotron, some sort of halftime presentation, informational pamphlets, and discounted tickets. As a sports journalist, I had no idea how much work would have to go into such an event, but I was hopeful and optimistic.

As far as I was concerned, little headway had been made in the first ten months of my campaign.

I had established some strong connections with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, both the NBA and WNBA front offices and even with a few community relations people from individual teams. But nothing had been done, and my initial goal of having an event take place during this month?s MS Awareness Week was inching closer.

Resigned to the fact that these things took time, I continued to send e-mails out to teams and NMSS chapters in hopes of sparking something up for the 2008-09 season. I kept in contact with a few leads and continued developing relationships with some very hard-working, and caring, people.

As important as those relationships have been, and will continue to be, I wanted to see results. I longed to make a difference because the disease is so close to my heart and is still very misunderstood. If you don?t know someone directly affected by multiple sclerosis, chances are you don?t know the in-and-outs of the most mystifying disease of the last few decades.

On March 7, thanks to some tremendous people, my dream finally became a reality.

The Milwaukee Bucks hosted their first-ever ?National MS Society Night? when the Portland Trail Blazers came to town. A PSA was shown on the jumbotron, pamphlets were handed out in the main concourse, discounted tickets were offered, and a local family was honored during halftime.

Tom Demeter, a Group Sales Associate for the Bucks, informed me of the event a few days after it took place, much to my excitement. He commented that the organization read my ?NBA for MS? piece last September and took the appropriate steps to make something happen this season.

So in the months leading up to this year?s MS Awareness Week (March 10-17), the Bucks and the Wisconsin Chapter of the NMSS worked together to make a difference. Who would have thought that someone could muse from his laptop about something he frankly considered an unobtainable goal and that he would actually see results?

My part in what took place on March 7 was microscopic compared to what Demeter and Konni Hibicke of the Bucks and Mary Hartwig and Laurie Schill of the local NMSS chapter did to make such an event take place.


Representatives from the NMSS, Bucks and the local family honored on March 7

After speaking with all four of the people that were involved in Milwaukee, it appears as though another event will be held next March as a strong relationship between the Bucks and the NMSS was forged through the affair. One thing will likely be different should the team host their second annual MS Night in 2009, yours truly will be in attendance.

I?ve been able to do some pretty cool things over the past three years thanks to the powers that be at RealGM, but nothing compares to the relationships and difference that has been made through the site?s acceptance of my ever-growing ?NBA for MS? campaign.

In addition to the conversations I have had with the NBA, WNBA, NMSS and a handful of individual chapters and teams, I have established an ?e-mail? relationship with Ryan DuChene,  a member of Nike?s Sports Marketing Department.

Ryan contacted me within days of my very first ?NBA for MS? piece back in April of 2007. We immediately shared the common bond of having an extremely close loved one with the disease. Ryan, along with Justin Marquart, founded ?Caddies 4 Cure?, an Oregon charity that raises money to fight both multiple sclerosis and support the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the local Emanuel Children?s Hospital.

?Caddies 4 Cure?, which has donated over $70,000 for both the care and support of local Oregon residents with MS, continued to have a profound effect on the community earlier this month as they presented longtime NMSS Oregon chapter volunteer Bill McPherson with a new scooter to help aid his mobility.


McPherson shown receiving an autograph from Browns? QB Derek Anderson

McPherson, who has raised upwards of $14,000 for his local NMSS chapter, was in need of a new ride and DuChene selected him as the recipient of his charities? latest act of kindness.

In June, ?Caddies 4 Cure? will host their two biggest events of the year. On June 19th ?A Night to Chip in? will take place at the Tiger Woods Center in Beaverton, Oregon. Over 150 items will be placed up for auction, including NFL tickets and autographed sports memorabilia. The following morning the main event will be held as the charity?s annual scramble golf tournament will happen at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Vancouver, Washington.

Stars like Derek Anderson, Jerome Bettis, Marshall Faulk, Sterling Sharpe, Channing Frye, George Gervin, Moses Malone, Ahmad Rashad and Jerome Kersey are supporters of ?Caddies 4 Cure?.

DuChene has been a huge supporter of what I have been trying to accomplish over the past year, despite spending a great deal of his time making a huge impact in the Northwest with his own charitable efforts. In addition to attending an MS Night in Milwaukee next season, I hope to at some point make a trip out to the West Coast to show Ryan my support and appreciation as well.

It?s important to realize that you don?t have to have your own charitable foundation, or hold a position within a professional team, to make a very direct impact on your local community. The 2008 MS Awareness Week may have come and gone, but hundreds of Walk MS and Bike MS events will take place throughout the country over the next couple of months. It?s free to participate, and even easier to simply pledge a few bucks towards someone else that is taking part in the Society?s largest fundraising event.

Personally, I will be participating in an MS Walk for the fourth-straight year in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 12 (Visit My Participant Page!). As I mentioned, it?s a very easy way to make a difference in the community of your choice on a personal level.

As for my ?NBA for MS? campaign, hopefully even more headway will be made in the next eleven months. I may have broadcast my ideas and dreams out for the world to see, but people like Tom Demeter, Konni Hibicke, Mary Hartwig, Laurie Schill, Ryan DuChene and the countless others that I have failed to mention work the hardest to help move us all closer to a cure for multiple sclerosis.

With any luck the fourth installment of this series will be an even brighter one.

?It?s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.? ? Sam Cooke.


About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide.
Information Courtesy of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn?t. We help each person address the challenges of living with MS. In 2006 alone, through our home office and our 50 state network of chapters, we devoted nearly $126 million to programs that enhanced more than one million lives to move us closer to a world free of MS. The Society also invested more than $46 million to support 440 research projects around the world. We are people who want to do something about MS NOW.


Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Feel free to contact him via e-mail (Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com) with comments or questions on anything that you read about in this piece. He?s extremely grateful for all the e-mails and phone calls he has received from readers, supporters and the people involved in the helping raise MS Advocacy.